The End Is Nigh
by Really Not Here Anymore
Summary: A Will/Djaq story based on the final scene of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", in response to a challenge from Becky Scarlett / BeckyScarlett to write a Robin Hood fan-fiction based on a scene from a play. Will has a dilema...


The End Is Nigh

_This is a Robin Hood/BBC fan-fic written in answer to Becky Scarlett's (/beckyscarlett)challenge to write a Robin Hood fan-fic based on a scene in a play._

_It is based up the final scene of "The Crucible", by Arthur Miller, during which John Proctor has to decide whether to retract his confession to witch-craft and be hanged but lose his conscious, or to keep his confession and serve life in prison, but still be able to see his wife, Elizabeth._

_I have, therefore, changed the story slightly in accordance with Robin Hood, so that Will Scarlett is wrongly being charged with treason, but faces the same dilemma._

_**DICLAIMER:**__** I do not own Robin Hood/BBC or any of its characters. Nor do I own 'The Crucible', from which I have taken a direct quotation; the last three sentences of this fan-fiction are the three of the play. **_

_**No Copyright infringement intended or to my knowledge.**_

* * *

The End Is Nigh

The jailor pushed me roughly out from the cart, my hands still chained. I must confess, I was not sure if the decision I had made was a wise one; would seeing me once more, possibly for the last time, not break my love?

I knew as soon as I saw her, on the far side of the field, surrounded by the rest of the gang, that I had made the right choice. My hands were still chained but my emotions would never be. The jailor pushed me forwards once more, so that I was standing in the centre of the field, staring to the far corner where my comrades, my friends - No! My family - stood, and watched as Djaq struggled free from Marian's protective grasp. She tugged, but Marian held tightly on to her. I could not hear what they were saying, but I could imagine;

"Djaq! What… hat happens if this is the last time you see him?"

"I do not care. I _have_ to see him. Do you not understand? Would you not do the same for Robin?"

"Yes, but…"

"So where is the difference?!"

"But…"

"Marian. You are not my mother. I have watched enough of my loved ones perish at the hands of people like that man," she would say, pointing at the jailor, "to know that this is the right decision!"

At that very moment, Marian let go of her, and Djaq came running towards me across the field. Praises be on that jailor who had granted me this one, perhaps final, encounter! Perhaps all men have goodness within…

When she reached me, she merely stood, sadness in here eyes, and stared at me. I reached out and layed a hand on her cheek, trying to smile. She cupped her own hand on top of mine, and I came alive. "What are you going to do?" she asked me, her accent thick with pain and - dare I say it? - heartbreak.

"I… I… I have confessed."

She merely nodded, unspeaking.

"But… I do not think that I can keep it this way."  
This time I think I saw the tiniest flicker of a smile glimmer in her eyes.

"I cannot have my name, and that of my family, and of you, my love, tainted like this, for if I do not concede now, the name of 'Scarlett' will be that of a traitor for all eternity."

She lowered her hand from mine, and knotted it together with her other, uncomfortable, yet resigned. "So…?" she prompted me.

"So I am going to take the paper on which I signed and tear it. I cannot confess to a crime I did not commit… for your sake…"

She nodded again, perhaps understanding, perhaps not, but I knew in my heart what she knew in hers; she had to let me make this decision alone. We had been through enough together to have learned that.

"What will happen to you, Will?"

I swallowed, hard. I could not hold it from her any longer, for she probably knew the truth already. "They are hanging at dawn."

So… it had come to this… our last few moments together on Earth, and we both knew it. We had thought this would happen on so many different occasions… we had seen our friends die for us, but we had always hoped that it would never come to this… but, there you have it, in a nutshell; the life of an outlaw. And, in that split second, me gazing into her hazel eyes, and her staring intently into my green ones, we both knew.

And then she threw herself at me, her arms round my neck once more, holding me tightly, never wanting to let go. I held her too, and when she loosened her grip, I leant down and kissed her for what we both knew would be the last time. It might only have been brief, but to me it felt like a lifetime, and to her it was. For, although it was my life which was destined to end that morning, hers would be over in meaning too.

I let her go, my hand entwined with hers, lingering for longer than I had intended, and I turned from her. I had wanted to tell her so much more, but I only had time to say five words… five words we had first said on another occasion when we were destined to die, in that barn on the night of Robin's birthday, so many moons ago… "I love you, Djaq Scarlett." I said, before I was once more in the jailor's clutches.

And then the gang were running towards her, and I was being thrust into the cart, but I would not give up that easily; I would see that she was alright. Marian wrapped an arm around Djaq's shoulder, as she finally succumbed to tears, and I heard Marian ask "Are you not going to try to stop him?"

Djaq shook her head.

"He have his peace now. God forbid I should take it from him."

_Curtain._


End file.
